Korean Job Discussion Forums

[CrazyMonkey]

For those of you who may not know Seoul English Village is one of the first English immersion programs in Korea. It is funded by the Seoul city government and managed by Herald media.

My main point in this posting is to let teachers who are considering working for Seoul English Village know some of the positive and negative aspects of working here. Although we have had about 10% of our teachers leave, in 7 months, because they don't like it here, I am not trying to bash SEV. I just want the facts out there for other teachers to see. I've been working here since the grand opening in late November 2004, and any teacher considering this school should be informed of some of the common highlights and problems of working here.

Pros:
1. Getting paid on time isn't usually a problem.
2. There is a large amount of freedom for each teacher to develop their own curriculum for each class. For example you may teach Bus Terminal class, but how exactly you do that is mostly up to the teachers. Some classes have more flexibility than others of course.
3. You change classes every 4 weeks. If you get a bad class you might get a good one after 4 weeks.
4. There are lots of fun facilities that teachers can use in their off time not to mention getting to teach in them (like pool hall, movie theatre, 3 karaoke rooms, cooking classroom), although you do have to give 48 hours notice to management before using a classroom after hours.
5. I find the interaction with the students (mostly 5th and 6th graders), the most fulfilling part of the job. Much of the job is role-playing and acting, and if you get a kick out of that you'll love the actual work aspect of this job. This really is the core selling point for working here: it really can be great fun teaching many of the classes (like Magic, Police Station, Hospital, X-Box, Pool Hall, Monopoly, and a few others).
6. The hours aren't bad. depending on what class you are teaching and whether you share it with another teacher you would teach a maximum of 26 hours per week and as little as 11.
7. The students are usually very excited to be here, so you don't have to twist many arms to get them to have fun.

Cons:
1. If you don't like a lot of attention from media and children you might not like this job. Camera news crews are fairly common, and will waltz into your classroom and film you while you are teaching, although this is less the case now than it was near the beginning. The students will often mob you if you are nice to them, whether you are on or off duty, its like being a celebrity.
2. Teaching skill doesn't go to far here since there is hardly any actual teaching here. It is basically acting, role-playing, and supervision. (there is about 4-5 hours per week of what amounts to babysitting. For those incline toward drama, acting or babysitting, this point could be a pro)
3. You don't really have a chance to get to know the students. They are here for only one week, and you get each of 25 teams of 12 students for one maybe two 45 minute periods.
4. You will be lucky to make 2,000,000, and airfare, only a couple of the current teachers have gotten that although that is what is being currently advertised as starting pay. Most of the other English villages pay at least 2,500,000.
5. You live in a dormitory room sharing a bathroom with one other room. These living conditions are not too bad if you are used to living in a dorm environment with limited privacy and constant contact with your coworkers.
6. There are no cooking facilities (unless you count a communal toaster oven and a microwave), although weekday meal are provided in the cafeteria. It is possible to use the cooking classroom if you know two days in advance that you want to cook something.
7. The food in the cafeteria is edible and occasionally very tasty although often not very healthy. Half of the meals are Korean and the other half are "western". (they do have mashed potatoes!!! if you like that)
8. We are often treated like trained monkeys (but if you like being a monkey maybe you wouldn't mind so much).
9. Their are still a few bugs in the system. As with any new institution the program is in constant flux in attempts to better the program. This can be stressful if you like consistency.
10. Teachers often have to take matters into their own hands when suggesting changes or modifications to classes or to other teacher related issues.
11. Five 15 minute morning meetings, and one 30 minute friday meeting per week, which often become venting sessions for frustrated staff.
12. Having to constantly be in contact with your co-workers. This is a problem when you are trying to enjoy your life and other disgruntled teachers will not cease complaining to you until you jump on their band wagon of rage and revolution. This has the effect of self imposed exile out of fear that you will be accosted by angry mobs ready to lay siege to the management's offices. (I suppose this is more of a comment on the close living quarters than a about the actual people here)
13. There are no internet connections in the rooms, only large communal areas with virus ridden computers. Internet is available in the rooms for an extra $US40 per month with a one year commitment.
14. Being such a large project, organization is a constant problem; if you are a perfectionist you might be a bit put off. Wait a few years...
15. You are expected to stay on campus for your full 8 hours per day, regardless of how few classes you have that day. (This doesn't bother me too much since I signed a contract that states I am to be here 8 hours per day regardless of class load).
16. There is a rather strict visitor's policy, which states that they can only stay until 11pm on nights when the children are on campus and 1am on weekends and holidays. (This is somewhat understandable since the students do stay here, although that doesn't make the rule more convenient when you want to invite a friend or two over for a late movie)
17. Since there are many changes that often happen in regards to policies and the program, don't be surprised if things don't end up exactly like you were told. Even seasoned veterans of English teaching sometimes forget to carefully read the contract BEFORE accepting the job.
18. Although I know that it is common in Korea, the way the Korean staff get treated compared to the foreigners is really hard to watch.
19. Security cameras in all the halls and most of the classrooms. This being a single instance of the lack of privacy that SEV teachers have to get used to. If you value your privacy beware!
There are a many other small issues that many instructors here might have, but I will leave it to them to discuss here, as I have touched on most of the major issues to me.

Overall points to consider:
1. If you are not flexible and open minded to a constantly changing work environment and work schedule you will probably not like this job.
2. If you don't like being treated like a trained monkey, you might not like this job.
3. This really isn't a teaching job, it is more of a combination of role-playing, drama, and babysitting. If you think you will like that then this job might be for you.
If you think that the pros outweigh the cons then you might want to seriously consider the job, if not save yourself and others the trouble and look elsewhere. If you are undecided and money is an issue at all, look to one of the other English villages.
I hope this was in some way helpful to you or at least provided some useful information.

[Picture Perfect]

[JongnoGuru]

Loved the post, you Crazy Monkey!

It sounds like a Monkey Petting Zoo to me. As it happens, the wife of an American I know told me she applied for a job at one of these Boring-School-Subject-Recast-as-"Fun"-Theme-Parks, and she was turned down. Why? She said the people who interviewed her (the family lives here in Seoul) told her she didn't look the part. Now, she does look vaguely Hispanic, as many Americans do, but you certainly wouldn't know that from how she speaks.

So anyway, that may be something people, er -- monkeys thinking about working at such places should bear in mind: Racial discrimination is alive and well on Monkey Island. Or Monkeyland. No... Monkeytown! Yeah, that sounds more Korean! Monkeytown!! And all the little Korean kiddies will sing that early '80s disco hit (recently reprised on Shrek II):

Gotta make a move to a
Town that's right for me
Town to keep me movin'
Keep me groovin' with some energy

Well, I talk about it
Talk about it
Talk about it
Talk about it
Talk about, Talk about
Talk about movin

Gotta move on
Gotta move on
Gotta move on

Won't you take me to
Monkeytown
Won't you take me to
Monkeytown
Won't you take me to
Monkeytown
Won't you take me to
Monkeytown

[Hyeon Een]

A couple of months ago about 7 of my best students went to Seoul English Village. They absolutely loved it. I think it was the highlight of their life up until now. They wouldn't stop talking about it for at least a week. As they knew I was leaving the hagwan shortly they started demanding I go work at SEV because its such a fantastic place, and they will be going back again next year.

Oh yeah, there is one guy who works there who apparently looks just like me, AND, even better, he's apparantely very handsome. I can't remember his name though. Students from three separate classes asked me if I knew him. (He looks like me? Well then yes of course, I MUST know him!)

Anyway, from the sounds of Monkey's post, I think I will skip my students advice and not apply there. On the positive side Monkey, you and the rest of the teachers are making the children very happy.

-HE

[CrazyMonkey]

Please don't get me wrong about working with the students, that part really is great if you like being a celebrity. Some really love the attention while others find it a bit stifling. We don't have many students that come through here that don't enjoy themselves. As far as I know the few students that go home are because of missing their family or because they have issues with the other students.

In response to the comment about the drop out rate, I do agree that we lose less teachers than some of the scary Hogwans I've heard about. I think that is proof of how fun the actual interaction with the students often is. I think that the people that left were more concerned with some of the higher stress factors of the job.

[CrazyMonkey]

I wanted to note some changes since this post was originally written. And since I know that SEV is currently hiring quite a few new teachers I just wanted to make a few points for any prospective employees.

1. Now the rate of teachers having left without finishing their contracts has reached about 29%. There have been increasing changes to many aspects of the program here leading to more and more confusion and lack of communication. The staff is being spread more and more thin and the work hours are increasing. There also have been cutbacks in teaching materials that SEV will pay for, which have frustrated a number of teachers.

2. Now Seoul English Village is open 7 days per week meaning that there is now a weekend shift as is mentioned in the job add on this website. This is alright if you don't mind working on Saturday and Sunday, but the weekend shift is already getting saddled with extra work beyond what they agreed to. What is not stated is that if you are not working on the weekend it will feel like it anyways. With classrooms and student rooms directly above and administration offices below all teachers rooms, and the loudspeaker announcements directing students to go here or there a dozen times a day, your weekend really feels like you haven't left work at all.

3. The food is getting worse for some reason. I don't know why this is, but with the lack of cooking facilities, the ban on cooking in the rooms and the rule that states there should be no food in the rooms, eating healthful or even appetizing meals is becoming more of a challenge. About half of the teachers don't regularly eat in the cafeteria. There are limited eating out options in the immediate area, especially if you want somthing other than Korean.

4. SEV is showing its age. There seems to have been little money budgeted for the replacement of damaged or aging facilities. Most of the rooms are looking pretty grungy and filthy even where major components aren't broken. One child last week on the tour of the grounds vomited because of the foul smell that resides in the building that houses the science classrooms. Right now everything looks pretty bad, and in six months it will be a total dump, and there seems no effort to clean or repair anything.

In short, if you value privacy or separation of work and leisure time, you might not like working here. Pretty much all the teachers (not to mention some of the administration) here are rather jaded on the whole place and the program (or lack thereof) and don't put much faith in its future. Yes the kids still have a great time, but its getting more and more difficult for the teachers to have a good time too.

[goodbyekoreasale]

Ha ha ha ... anything that Herald Media Inc is involved with quickly becomes a debacle. Why? Because the company has massive cash flow problems and needs to keep starting new businesses to stay afloat.

[Canucksaram]

"...we lose less teachers...," was typed by a poster.

"Fewer" or "less"? Count or non-count? Such challenging concepts.

Beg your pardon, dear readers, but this kind of "mistake" hurts us (and by "us" I mean to say aware EFL tutors) all.

Count vs. non-count. Simple, really--and nowhere esle is checking for such mistakes as important as when posting on an internet board of supposed EFL teachers!

"Hmm, I'll just use any word that pops into my brain. Less teachers. Yeah, that sounds fine to me." --Idiote Grand Jr.

[IlIlNine]

<double post>

[IlIlNine]

[paperbag princess]

crazy monkey, is your avatar from sapce invader zim? that's awesome!

[Canucksaram]

IlIlNine,

Are you seriously comparing a typing mistake to the improper use of count vs. non-count nouns? Not familiar with the basics of logic, are you? Apples vs. oranges and all that?

As for use of the word "internet," both the capitalized version and the non-capitalized version are considered to be acceptable spellings of the word, according to different authorities (check an AP stylebook or a copy of the CMS). Originally, yes, only the capitalized from of "internet" was considered to be correct. That is no longer the case.

[djmarcus]

CrazyMonkey,

Thanks for that post. You answered all of my questions regarding SEV. And after reading the CONS I think I may go with the EPIK program instead. The fact that you can't cook or eat in your own room and curfew is just a real turn off. I may not be an Iron Chef, but I love cooking and eating healthy. And this cafeteria does not sound like a healthy option.

This post was started in Aug 05, any significant changes since then?

[cruisemonkey]

Djmarcus,

CrazyMonkey has fled the land of the morning loud speaker announcements and really bad 'pop' songs for more sane climes. He will never read your thanks, but rejoices in the fact that 'Daves's' can keep at least one individual from making a really bad decision.

Anyone 'up' for Ansan or Padju?

P.S. I love my oven.

[lulu144]

is it really that bad?? I'm seriously considering a job there but I am looking to be with foreigners as I completely isolated where I am and ti's driving me crazy!!

ps- do they do 6 month contracts??